The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-12-17
At
A Peculiar Indian City whose Popuintios
Goes Armed to the Teeth.

At ovOeHAoAOs
Peculiar Indian City whose PopulatIor
Goes Armed to tho Teeth.
Q Hyderabad is unquestionably one o.
{ the most peculiar and interesting cities
$ of India, although Of no ancient foun'
: dation and possessing no very remarka.
. bic buildings. Koolub Shah, who ere.
l ated this capital, having migrated from
Golcondah for want of good water,
called it after his favorite Bhagnah.
and beautiiied the place with a stately
} mosque and the picturesque cditice
called Chahar Mjndr, or the 'f0ur Min
~arets," through the archways of which
the main traffic of the bazars still passes.
Outside the gray and white walls
of the city runs the river Musah, in
stony channels which are filed with a
turbid flood during the rains, but at
other seasons trickle feebly with a chain
Of shallow pools, where elephants battle
and the town washing is c%lamorously
done. This rocky stream Is spanned
by three broad bridges. separating the
Hindoo suburbs from the town
proper. wherein all-or almost all--is
Mohammedan in character. The long
whitewashed streets of tho capital, with
their shop fronts formed by Saracenlc
arches; the mosques occurring at fire.
quent intervals; the tall sculptured
minarets seen constantly rising above
the city roofs; the sign-boards bearing
Persian, Arabic or Hindi inscriptions;
the names of the shop-keepers, and the
multiplicity of beggars on the mosque
steps and at the gateways, give the gem
eral impression of a sort Of Indian Da-
mascus or Cairo. This is intensified by
the busy throng blocking up the main
~strcsts with a perpetual tide of life; for
here n sees perpetually the snow-white
'turban OF the 'true believer mingling
with the red tarbosh OF the Mohammc-
dan negro and the green caftan worn
by the Syed, or the Hadji, who has made
his pilgrimage to Mecca.
This population goes armed, as has
been said, to the tecth--to the stomach,
to the back and legs, the neck and head.
In truth. it is hardly less the fashion to
wear pistols, sabers, daggers, guns and
spears in Hyderabad than to carry UNI.
brellas in Piccadilly. At the guard
house sit the Arab troopers, with long
matchlocks held spearwise between the
knees. and cotton fuses smoking. The
Moslem ''masher," as he ~earacoles down
the bazaar, strokes his mustaches with
the blade Of his sword; the noble on
his elephant lays his crooked tulwar
across bis knees; the messenger goes
down the street with the letter which he
is to deliver stuck into the sheath
his silvec-haftcd knife: the dealer
squats at the shoe-nart with a lapful of
.oignards rattling against his rupees;
and every fifth or sixth shop sells lethal
weapons. The whole capital gives the
idea Of being, as it were. "on half
cock and ready to go of at a touch
into turmoil and revolution. 1t is, how
ever, only an idea; and, though the
populace has decidedly an independent,
Tree and easy manner not witnessed
elsewhere. and although a European
be somewhat carelcssly jostled
and there if he walked through
he more crowded of the bazars, there
$ no sign of turbulence or want of
that l could notice. and broils
ire said to be of singular intrequency.
But the word, ''the spirit of the steel"
S certainly worshiped in a way which
would have vexed T~hucydides, who /
in his First Book that no civil
zed citizens should ''carry IRON" The ,
'rmorers will show you johnrdars. or
vatered blades, worth five thousand {
upees; serohis, with edges carved; ab.
'assis, a sort Of Persian rapier; ast1s,
li7aohas. tegahs, Airichis, dhopes and
Mants. these last being murder
'us-looking scimitars, which have the s
utter edge of the lunette sharpened.
heir blu~nderbusscs bear fancy names
lso. such as sher bucha, .'tiper's
hild,' and SAT shihan, ''line-sweeper," s
nd then there are ,iambais, with hand :
made of the cemel's sinews; aikhtius, =
arried by Arabs; katars, affected by Il
'athans; the pcsh-khats, worn by Rohii- c
as, with little villianous knives named $
'ichmas, or scorpions and karolis, v
lny implements Of anger and hatred !.
'hich you can hide in the palm of the
and, m'arus. wrought Of black bucks '
ORR; and the savage pointed chura and u
rocked sdtdara. In fact a volume !,
hight be written upon the varieties Of :
eadly elegancies to be seer in the Hy- II
bazars. Cor. London I~eleSraph. .
VI